In the year to April 1998, 22,800 more people entered the State to live than emigrated - the highest level since 1951. While just more than half were returning emigrants, more than 30 per cent of the remainder came from other EU states.

Conversations between staff in Dublin's burger joints and cafes are increasingly conducted in continental languages, more often then not by Spaniards and Italians. Continental Europeans account for 45 per cent of staff at Bewleys - the figure rises to 60 per cent over the summer months. According to a spokeswoman, Bewleys no longer advertises for staff in Spanish and Italian newspapers, such is the demand for work from Europeans already here.

FAS has translated leaflets into Spanish, French and Italian while SIPTU is drawing up application forms in Spanish and considering a further translation into Italian. According to catering sector branch secretary, Mr Frank O'Malley, the profile of those coming here has changed considerably over the last three years.

"Young people are no longer just interested in learning English. Dublin is now seen as an attractive place to put down roots and work in for a couple of years."

He said that changes in employment trends had gone a long way towards facilitating this, and that, until recently, the catering industry had a large pool of unemployed Irish people to draw on.

"All that changed when computer companies located here. Working nine to five in call centres seemed a much more attractive option than catering work, where rates of pay are often extremely low."

Trawling through letters from recruitment firms and software companies has become a regular part of the workload at the Italian Embassy. A spokeswoman said the number of enquiries from businesses looking for native speakers has snowballed and, in the past year, there has been a corresponding rise in the number of Italians coming here.

The demand for a bilingual workforce is fuelled, sources say, by the ever-growing number of multinational software companies setting up here. Ms Sarah Dooney, director of Rescon Resources, a recruitment firm for the IT industry, said that demand for native speakers has surged in the past two years with companies spending massively on relocation packages in an effort to secure staffing levels.

"One particular multinational has been buying up houses which it then rents to continental staff at reasonable rates. They also pay for holidays back home and even subsidise the cost of visits from boyfriends and girlfriends."

The majority of those who relocate, work on help-lines taking queries from their home countries and offering solutions to computer problems. Ms Dooney said that those emigrating are often over qualified for help-desk work with many holding degrees in information technology. The Irish sector is highly developed when compared with their native country and there are career opportunities here that simply do not exist back home. "It's a two-way thing," said Ms Dooney. "Many see starting in a call centre on a relatively low wage of £12,000£15,000 as a stepping stone. After a year here their English will have improved and they can move on to better things."

But Irish graduates may be losing out, she says. "Firms used to take Irish people but having a language degree isn't enough anymore. At the moment companies want native speakers."

At the lower end of the employment market there are signs that a continental workforce may be spawning problems of its own. "Hoteliers have reported negative responses from customers. For instance Germans don't want to be greeted in German, they want the redheaded waitress with the brogue. We have to be careful to get the balance right so we don't undermine the essential Irishness of the tourism industry," said Mr O'Malley.

Those coming to take low-paid catering jobs often find themselves in the hostile underbelly - the not so pretty flip-side - of the economy. Rental firms report chronic difficulties encountered by continental immigrants while looking for accommodation. According to a Dublin group, Accommodation All Areas, landlords are particularly reluctant to take European arrivals who they view as risky because of the difficulty involved in researching their backrounds. Many end up spending months in hostels, at an average cost of £70 per week, before returning home when their money runs out.